


asleep in the shallows

by pxncey



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Not a Love Story, Power Imbalance, Rape/Non-con Elements, Unhealthy Relationships, just a look at a relationship I found interesting and wanted to explore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-12 14:06:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9075178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pxncey/pseuds/pxncey
Summary: Orson Krennic is constantly playing a game of manipulation and control. He lives that game, ceaselessly.And for the sake of his daughter, for the sake of everything that is good in the universe, Galen decides, so will he.





	

**Author's Note:**

> \- orson krennic is a horrendous cunt and i would punch him in the throat if only he wouldnt shoot me on my way there  
> \- what im showing here is not a healthy dynamic kiddos. dont be like krennic, and also don't stay in relationships with people like krennic if possible, unless u could save billions of lives by doing it i guess  
> \- warning for dub con: its implied that galen is sleeping w krennic when he doesn't really want to, but there aren't any descriptive scenes  
> \- the title of this fic is from 'shallow' by sea oleena, v good song, v dreamy  
> \- im sorry if this is badly written and im sorry i wrote so much in the notes box lmao bye  
> 

To return to the service of the Empire—to Orson Krennic—is the very last thing Galen has wanted to do for the past year. Yet now, he finds himself on a ship sitting across from Krennic, making his way across the galaxy to god knows which Imperial-dominated facility as a hostage. He supposes that's what he is, a prisoner with no choice in what's happening, but he doesn't feel like one yet, although the Troopers restrained his wrists before they boarded, and the two seated either side of him on the ship are sitting stiffly like they're prepared to turn and hold him down at any sign of resistance. He should feel like a prisoner by now, but he's too numbed to let it sink in. All he can think about is Lyra, lying there limp on the grass, and Jyn, his little Jyn, hiding away in that cave all alone. He wishes he could run to her. He wishes he could turn back time and kill Krennic before he could even point his gun at Lyra. He wishes he had never agreed to assist Krennic with this monstrous project in the first place.

Galen has many wishes. But wishes do not help you deal with the present. Instead of dwelling on what he cannot change, Galen tries to analyse what he can do right now.

A little thinking and Galen decides that the most prominent issue he has in the current moment is his wrists hurting. It's a small problem, but it must be the last straw on the bantha's back, as the tightness of the binds is driving him to the ends of his wits. They are heavy and cold, and abrasive too when grinding against the dirt on his skin. He tries to rub at his wrists using each opposite hand to soothe the other, but the metal clunks together and traps his fingers every time he tries.

Krennic should not be paying any attention to Galen—he's just been shot, and the haphazard job the Trooper did on his dressing has got to mean that he's bleeding through the bandages—but when he notices the discomfort the cuffs are causing Galen, he gives him his most sincere apologetic look. "7189, loosen those binds," he tells the Trooper to the right of Galen. The Trooper pulls a small mechanical device off its belt and slots it into a groove in the cuffs, twisting it until they loosen and Galen sighs in relief. Then it shakes his wrists roughly to make sure that the binds are still on tight enough that his hands can't slip out, and Krennic barks in disapproval. "Careful."

The Trooper places Galen's hands back down gently. It clicks the device back onto its belt and settles back into position.

Despite Krennic's display of tactful kindness, Galen knows that he is doubtlessly the one that ordered Galen to be restrained. It's a small but startling reminder of the hypocrisy of the way Krennic operates, of his starkly contradictory behaviour, and although it's only something trivial, it feels like to Galen like being dropped in ice water. He has become so accustomed to people who work clear-cut, it feels like—like a culture shock, of sorts, to be reintroduced to such manipulative ways of thinking.

It's hard to stomach when Galen thinks about the fact that he's decided to immerse himself in all of this again. He'll be trapped in a terrible place for the rest of his life, performing that despicable job alongside the man who killed his wife. But if it wasn't Galen in that position, it would be a hungry young Imperial researcher, with no secret plan up his sleeve, just a heart full of greed for power. At least he will be able to complete a terrible task in the most moral way possible.

 _Morality_. Galen won't be seeing much of that for some time. His mind gets stuck on Lyra and Jyn again, then. Lyra and her endless compassion and warmth: something about her was so bright, she could have made the sun shine just with a smile, made the grass grow just with the twinkle in her eyes. And Jyn and her clever, rebellious little heart, following the path she wanted to take rather than the one paved down in stone. They were both so honest, so simple, so perfect for him to love. He'll probably never see either of them again. Lyra's body will be washed away by the elements, and Saw will take Jyn far away and teach her to hide—and knowing Jyn, she'll pick it up so well that not even her own father would be able to find her, if only he could look.

Galen falls asleep an hour into the transportation thinking about Jyn. He wakes up with a start only a few minutes from their destination, which the Troopers refuse to tell him when he asks. And Krennic is gone, probably talking to the pilot about the arrangements for when they land and organising for a med team to arrive to deal with his blaster wound.

He wonders where he will stay. Will Krennic be influenced by their previous relationship and give him one of the less unpleasant cells, perhaps with a toilet fixture rather than just a drain hole? Or will he disregard the fact that Galen is a prisoner entirely and focus only on their past friendship, and give him an officer's suite (although maybe with a large bolt on the outside of the door for 'safety')?

To Galen's unease, neither of his guesses are correct. When they land, he is led by four Troopers to a clean, plain grey room with a slim cot bed, a desk, and a toilet in the corner. The room is of slightly higher quality than the Troopers' bunks, but nothing as extreme as a dank prison cell or a lavish officer's quarters. In fact, it feels rather appropriate for him, the not-quite-prisoner, not-quite-ally. Galen hadn't expected Krennic to provide such a fitting living space for his stay. If he fools them all well enough into thinking he's comfortable here, it's likely they'll upgrade him to a more comfortable room soon in the future, but for now, this seems perfect. He doesn't want to feel completely at home here. He's not meant to feel at home here yet.

But he'll slowly ease into it. The more they trust him, the more responsibility and independence he'll be given, and gradual, hard-earned trust is always the strongest. He learned that from Krennic. While their relationship has been tumultuous recently to say the least, they've known each other for going on thirty years now, and their friendship was built up over a long time. There's no way to fully get rid of the trust that builds from such a long relationship: even as Galen was trying to escape from the Empire, Krennic still trusted him more than anyone, whether he intended to or not. Perhaps that's something Galen could use to his advantage, it dawns on him later as he's sitting on the bed examining the tiny bumps on the wall.

Krennic is constantly playing a game of control and manipulation. He lives that game, ceaselessly.

And for the sake of his daughter, for the sake of everything that is good in the universe, Galen decides, _so will he_.

He plans, that night, lying in his cot in the dark. He goes over every minute of his younger relationship with Krennic, trying to pinpoint the moments where Krennic seemed to value him above others, and working through what he might have done to spur that. Krennic is so unpredictable, it could have be anything.

He doesn't get very far, until he reaches their days at the Brentaal Futures Program. One night stands out. He and Orson are teenagers, sneaking about the area outside the school late one evening. They drop in a few dive bars, and while Orson is a little tipsy after a couple of drinks, Galen manages to get completely intoxicated. Leading them in brashness for once, he climbs over a stranger's wall into their garden, and lies down on the grass. Orson follows, fascinated by this more confident and impulsive Galen.

"You're a whole different person when you've got some liquor in you," Orson says, kicking back on the grass with Galen.

The lingering taste of alcohol is warm in Galen's mouth, and the grass is slightly damp underneath him. "Is that a bad thing?" he asks.

Orson doesn't have to pause before he says, "No. I like you both ways."

Galen pushes his hair out of his eyes and looks up at the sky. It's full of stars, and if he squints he can see the red glow of the nearby planet Exo. His body feels heavy, but his mind feels light, almost like it's floating away. "Why is it that you like me?" he asks Orson. He's always wondered why Orson singled him out, of all the boys at the Academy, to be his one confidant. Orson has countless allies, but Galen is the only person he genuinely seems to care about. He would have thought that somebody like Orson would want a strong, shrewd, endlessly talented and connected boy by his side, rather than Galen, who is unskilled at fighting, mediocre at almost all subjects, and downright terrible at making connections with his peers.

The grass rustles as Orson turns on his side. "I think you have untapped potential," he says, and then adds playfully, "And I'm going tap it."

"You're such a child," Galen laughs.

Orson laughs too, tipping his head back and grinning at the sky. "I know, I know. I'm terrible."

They lie there for a while longer as their smiles fade, staring up at the stars. The night air is just pleasantly warm enough, and Galen is drunk and sleepy, and his eyes are just starting to close when Orson nudges him in the shoulder. "Why do you like me?" Orson asks him, an intent look on his face.

Galen blinks his eyes back open, staring at Orson. He's surprised he has to ask. He must be aware that there are hundreds of reasons why somebody might want to be friends with Orson Krennic, especially somebody like Galen, who benefits enormously simply from being seen with him.

(Galen imagines now that Orson was probably just looking for way in which to boost his ego even further. He can't possibly have just been searching for validation from his best friend.)

"I like you because..." Galen says, fisting a tiny handful of grass, then uprooting it and sprinkling it back over the earth. "Because you have something. You have this sort of fire."

For a long while, Orson looks at Galen with something strange in his eyes. (Galen paid little attention to it at the time, but looking back on the memory, the expression on Orson's face startles him. He looks almost humble. But people must have told Orson that before. It's impossible not to notice that there's something different about him, something powerful. Why was it Galen's confirmation that affected him so much?)

Orson's eyes are still on him, and Galen settles back, and says, "One day you're going to burn up."

There's a pause, a silence and a stillness. Orson shifts, closer to Galen, and his hand twitches in an aborted movement like he had meant to do something but stopped himself. Galen wonders now if he was going to kiss him.

It's a reasonable assumption, because after that night was when Galen really started to notice how protective Orson was over him—he would defend him in fights, he would sit by him at every opportunity in case the other boys ganged up on him—and not only this, but around then was also when the looks started. Galen would catch Orson staring at him sometimes, with these sly, dark looks, especially when they were alone. It had made Galen feel strange—wanted, but confused, and almost violated somehow. He hadn't asked to be looked at in that way. Especially by Orson, his only friend, who he'd never seen look at anybody like that before.

The younger Galen was so unsure about how he should respond that he simply didn't do anything at all, and after a few months, Orson went back to looking at him like another friend and Galen eventually forgot all traces of it ever happening.

A little later on, he did briefly question if perhaps he had feelings for Orson. But partway into this period he met Lyra, and Lyra was so much more than Orson. Where he was erratic and fiery, Lyra was endlessly warm and soft. Where he was selfish and manipulative, Lyra was honest and open and selfless, and once Galen realised this he knew would never be able to think about Orson in that way again without comparing him to her.

He's all but sure that Krennic must have grown out of the feelings he had hinted at in the early days by now, but he begins to realise that all he needs is that they were there once. Just a tiny foundation in which to lay his new plans. It might be a long shot, but if he makes it then it could do wonders to help him secure the Empire's trust.

Now is his chance to utilise the only weakness he has ever seen Orson Krennic display.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos, bookmark or comment to make my day. im desperate for validation :^)


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